Original (Dewy & Smooth) Maybelline Fit Me Foundation in 220 Review HERE
So many of us have been waiting patiently for the Matte & Poreless to arrive on our British shores. Our drugstore shelves were fully stocked around the end of April and many didn't think twice to pick up this incredibly affordable and highly praised foundation, at £6 you really couldn't do any harm! I wasn't in a rush to pick it up, I was curious yes but I knew it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, though I ended up picking it up only because I had to spend an extra £6 to reach my coupon threshold, so I suppose it was written!
I've been testing it out and trialling with it non-stop, trying to figure out how I feel about it, I hate to say this but I must be the only person that doesn't love the Matte & Poreless. I don't think it agrees with my skin at all, I can't quite put my finger on why, believe me I've tried, I've tried all sorts of techniques but it simply doesn't look good on my skin.
Description from website:
Fit Me Matte & Poreless has been designed for normal to oily skin. Its blurring micro powders refines pores while shine is being absorbed for a natural matte finish.
Why You'll Love It
Fit Me Matte & Poreless foundation fits both skin and texture for natural finish and poreless looking skin.
Shade
I picked up the shade 220 Natural Beige which is what I wear in the Original Fit Me, I think they are almost the same though the Matte version is slightly warmer. I've included swatches so you can see for yourself. I do like the initial shade this is on me but it oxidises like it's predecessor and I'm not keen on the oxidation colour, it looks really ashy on me, it's a bit confusing, I can't tell if it becomes too light for my skin or too dark. But I can definitely say the undertone becomes really off! *See Update Below
I've taken some pictures of the swatches in different angles including the Original Dewy and Smooth as well as Nars All Day Luminous Weightless in Stromboli. You can easily see which one is the most yellowest and also the slight variations between both the 220's
I wouldn't mind trying the other shades but as usual we have limited shades here in the UK, being given the option of choosing from a measly 6 shades on the Boots website and maybe 4 in the actual stores... Not one of those shades are suitable for anyone who is darker than me (around nc35 - nc40), this annoys me so much so I can't begin to imagine how annoyed my brown girls actually are! However Superdrug's have 12 shades available on their website with a few dark/deep shades too and strangely it's a mixture of the UK plastic squeezy tubes and the original glass rectangular bottles that we usually associate with the Fit Me Foundation. In-store they have around 3-5 shades depending on the branch, Superdrug really surprise me sometimes, do you find that as well?
The only two available medium shades
Texture
For a foundation that's meant to be matte, this is quite a liquidy formula. You can proper shake the bottle and hear the liquid move swiftly like a liquid would. It's almost the same viscosity as the original Fit Me. Depending on how much you apply it'll run down your hand slowly. It feels quite emollient to the touch but obviously not as emollient as the Original. I've used my favourite H&M BB Cream Brush (review here) with this and it works fine. I find it works nicely with the brush as it pushes and blends the product in well. I've also used a beauty blender and it works fine too, it just absorbs a bit of product. In my trials I've also used my fingers, I used a lot less product than usual and got a much more natural and better finish but it was quite light coverage.
Feel
Being quite liquidy in texture this feels really light on the skin. It does set and sink into the skin nicely, for a matte it's very lightweight and reminds me a lot of the Bourjois Air Matte Foundation (review HERE). They both do very similar things. I have combination dehydrated skin, my cheeks are the most "normal" of areas on my face, my forehead and mouth area seem to be the most dry and dehydrated so I get to judge foundations with my different skin conditions. I think this is definitely excellent for normal to oily skin types, maybe slightly dry too. If you're normal then you'll love this, slightly oily then this'll be a very natural and comfortable wear for you, slightly dry you can easily skip the powder but should definitely stay wary.
Finish
On my combination dehydrated skin type this seems to have semi matte finish, it's not a flat matte but can easily look flat on me if I'm not adequately moisturised or if I've used too much. I also find this gives the skin an ever so slight blurring appearance like the Bourjois Air Mat foundation and also can make the skin look rather smooth once it has settled after a few hours. Around my mouth and even on my forehead where I'm dehydrated this looks quite dry and ashy and it sinks in to my lines, I think this is one of the main reasons that stops me from enjoying this foundation, I don't think this foundation looks good on my skin at all. This also claims to be a "poreless" foundation but it's not as pore filling as I was expecting, the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation (review here) is what I'd call a magic pore filling, skin smoothing foundation or the Urban Decay One & Done (review here). I also find this looks cakey and drying in my dry areas and obviously any texture on my face is accentuated too so ultimately dry textured people might want to skip this foundation.
When I use very minimal product using a brush or fingers, I can actually get quite an undetectable and natural finish and the colour or oxidation isn't bad at all, it doesn't have enough yellow in it so I feel as if my skin looks a little drained of colour but it actually doesn't look half bad. But doing it this way means I don't get the coverage I want and as soon as I start to build more coverage it starts to look really ashy. This foundation just isn't practical for me unfortunately. *See Update Below
Coverage
The Fit Me Matte & Poreless will give you a medium coverage, maybe a full depending on your skin conditions. I can probably build this up to a full, I have some light marks and redness that cover easily. But anyone with more imperfections might find they need some concealer. Around my mouth where I have discolouration and need to use an orange corrector I find that I need to use a lot more of the foundation than usual or it doesn't conceal the hyperpigmentation well and looks quite ashy but because I'm dehydrated there and this foundation is quite unforgiving for my dehydrated skin it makes me look really cakey and gross, I can't build this up to a full coverage on my skin type. Again this was my exact problem with the Bourjois Air Mat foundation, this has the potential of making my textured areas look a lot worse very easily. *See Update Below
Build-ability
You can build this up nicely, it blends easily and sinks in effortlessly, this does have a dry down/setting factor to it but doesn't really get too patchy but it will catch and can get cakey (on me), working on well moisturised/primed skin makes this glide on really nicely but I would suggest you apply one section at a time as this sets and melts into the moisture on your skin, again very very very similar to the Bourjois Air Mat. *See Update Below
Oxidation
This like the original Fit Me oxidises, although with the original I see it oxidise as soon as it hits my skin haha where as this one takes its time. Unlike the Bourjois this doesn't oxidise into a flattering shade, because the Air Mat has proper yellow undertones and was much lighter than my skin it oxidised to a deeper sunnier yellow, this just looks plain ashy on me. I do wish neither of the Fit Me's would oxidise, it's not like us Brits are blessed with a myriad of shades and can go down or up a shade! Mind you I think I have quite oxidisation prone skin so it might just be me or the ph of my skin. *See Update Below
Longevity
Being a semi/demi matte foundation this lasts pretty well on my combo dehrydrated skin. I don't feel the need to powder sometimes, after a while the foundation seems to melt in a bit more and it does look nicer. I may powder a few hours after wearing it but definitely don't feel the need to at the beginning.
Overall Thoughts
I really wanted to love this foundation, really really! So many people adore this and I really thought I'd adore it too, I was half hoping it would fill the gaps the original Fit Me left but it seems both foundations are just too much hard work for my weird fussy skin. I'd like to say I've tried almost everything to make it work but I feel this is just not for dry textured skin types and it's way too ashy for my liking, I suppose it's not too bad a fail as this was only £6! If you have any suggestions please leave them below, I'd love to hear them. I hope this review was helpful, thank you for reading. xxx
P.S. This has an alcohol kind of smell, unlike the original Fit Me which has a definite scent.
*UPDATE 16/08/16* : Even though I didn't have such amazing experiences with the Fit Me Matte & Poreless, part of me refused to give up on it, I insisted on giving it more go's because I refused to believe I was the only one that disliked it so. I have tried it out again since writing this review and.... I like it, it's okay, I see it, I see why people like it as much as they do. The problems that I was having with it mainly were how dehydrating I found it and how it seemed to exaggerate my textured areas and also the ashiness around my problem areas.
All of these issues have gone down a few notches on me at the moment and I think it's the current weather that's doing this. Even though we're pretty much in the middle of summer here in England, some days I have had to put the heating on as well as cozy up in a chunky cardigan and some wooly boots, yes it got that cold! Currently we are having some warm weather and I've been needing less moisture than usual on my skin. I put this on today and well, it looked so much better! It wasn't emphasising my textured dehydrated areas hideously, the ashiness was hardly there and it looked like a decent enough match, I really liked the way it looked. It was smooth-ish and looked like a natural matte and I quite liked the warm olive beige colour it was on me. Instead of colour correcting I put a few dabs of Nars RCC in Caramel in the usual areas and it's worked a treat.
Don't get me wrong I still don't think it's the most forgiving of formulas for dehydrated textured skin and I do have foundations that look a lot better on me but I just didn't want to see this foundation in such a negative light. It's obvious that my much oilier skin is liking this foundation a lot more now and the better lighting is somehow showing me that it's a very decent match, it's definitely sitting better on my skin now that I'm a bit more oily so I'll have to reserve this foundation for the warmer days! I feel slightly relieved now that I'm liking it a bit more and that it can keep its place in my collection, gosh so much drama over a foundation haha! Anyway so that was my little update that I wanted to share with you incase I put any of you guys off. Hope it was helpful, if you've had any similar experiences please share them with me. Toodles!
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